Tattered Cover to Welcome Arthur and Pauline Frommer

Father-daughter team of budget travel authorities launching book tour in the Denver area this week

The first post-World War II generation of young, independent travelers boarded their cheap-o charter flights equipped with the essentials: passport, student ID, Eurailpass and Arthur Frommer's Europe on $5 a Day. That iconic how-to travel book not only inspired young people to travel then, but to keep on traveling as they got older. It also spawned an empire. Arthur Frommer begat books (Frommers Travel Guides and other series), a magazine (Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel), a website, a radio gig (Arthur Frommer's "Travel Minute" on New York's WOR and podcast), a blog and a daughter, Pauline, who has followed in her dad's world-roaming, publishing footsteps.

Father and daughter are launching a book tour for Ask Arthur Frommer -- And Travel Cheaper, Better, Smarter at the Tattered Cover on Colfax on at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 8. They are offering a related mini-seminar, “Making Travel Work in Tough Economic Times.” Admission is free, and all Frommer's Guides will be 20 sold at off during this event -- and you can probably get them to sign the books too. The store is at 2526 East Colfax Avenue (at Elizabeth Street, directly across the street from East High School and the City Park Esplanade), Denver; 303-322-7727.

The following day, May 9, the Frommers will speak at the College Hill branch of the Westminster Public Library from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The library is at 3705 West 112th Street, Westminster. The event is also free, but the library would appreciate a call to register: 303-404-5104. If you want to buy a book there, it's cash or check only. Refreshments for the Westminster event will be provided by Cruise Holidays at the Ranch.

Arthur will continue the book tour at the Book Passage (51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, near San Francisco) at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, May 11; Distant Lands (56 South Raymond Avenue, Pasadena), at 7:30 p.m. on Monday May 13; and at the Borders bookstore in Century City (10250 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles) at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 14.

Best US Cities for Vacationing on a Budget

Discount travel booking site announces its top 10 list

Top 10, top 20, top 100 and top whatever other number you want to pull out of a hat can be pretty tedious, but I'm somehow intrigued by a new one from Hotwire, the discount travel booking site. The Hotwire Travel Value Index lists the cities that offer the greatest values -- note that these aren't necessarily the cheapest but ones that provide good value.

Hotwire scored the cities 25 percent for air, hotel and car-rental discounts; 50 percent on low prices for air, hotel and rental cars, and 25 on overall appeal, affordable entertainment and choice of accommodations. I'm not sure how they came up with these parameters that seem partially redundant, but here's their list of the 10 cities that achieve these requirements (last year's ranking in parentheses, where applicable).

1. Orlando (3)
2. Atlanta (5)
3. Denver (4)
4. Dallas-Fort Worth (2)
5. Phoenix (1)
6. Houston
7. Los Angeles (6)
8. Tampa
9. Washington, DC (7)
10. Chicago

Affordable Family Skiing Includes Freebies for Kids

Free kids' lift tickets, lodging, air fare and/or rentals ease the family skiing budget

I'm spending the weekend at Steamboat, the Colorado resort that pioneered Kids Ski Free, which offers free skiing/riding, lodging and even rentals for children 12 and under on a one-to-one basis with a full-fare adult with a stay of five nights or longer. Several years ago, the resort sweetened the offers still more with a discounted teen ticket for youngsters. Childcare and ski school are not included in the Kids Ski Free program. The latest added benefit is that kids also fly free to nearby Yampah Valley Regional Airport on American, Northwest and United. If you happen to be coming to Steamboat on the January 16-18, check out the resort's Family Snow Fest during that weekend. For details, call 877-237-2628 or 970-871-5252.

Elsewhere in Colorado, Aspen/Snowmass has partnered with Frontier with an unprecedented Kids Fly Free/Stay Free offer. Children 12 and under fly, stay and rent free with a minimum three-day, four-night package from "select" cities with Sunday through Thursday arrivals. This package cannot be booked online but only though 800-214-7669, with a December 23, 2008, booking deadline.

Sun Valley has a similar program in which children aged two to 11 fly free to Ketchum/Sun Valley on Horizon Air's nonstops from Los Angeles or Seattle when booked in conjunction with "a qualifying lodging package during selective travel dates." Youngsters 15 and under also ski and stay free in a participating Sun Valley Company property during January 4-31 and March 1-30, 2009. Off-peak fares are available Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Fares higher on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. The air tickets can be purchased until the end of the promotional period.

Up in the Canadian Rockies, two children 12 and under ski free with two paying adults with a package that includes seven nights' of economy-style accommodations in Banff or Lake Louise, and lift tickets for the three resorts that participate in the SkiBig3 group: Ski Norquay, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise Mountain Resort. The package is available all season long except for the December 20 through January 4 holiday peak. Call 877-754-7080 for reservations.

Easy Hotel's a la Carte Pricing

Low room rate and all sorts of add-ons: good idea or not?

I am of two minds when it comes to a la carte travel pricing. On the one hand, I appreciate budget-friendly prices, but I hate being charged extra for anything more than the air I breathe. So I'm also of two minds about EasyHotel, a fast-growing European chain from the creators of EasyJet, EasyCar and EasyCruise. The lowest promised rates are for early booking, though there might also be some last-minute price breaks.

The 12th EasyHotel recently opened in Berlin. Others are in  notably expensive places (London with six EasyHotels, Basel, Zurich) and Eastern European or Mediterranean ones (Budapest, Larnaka, Sofia). A very small, very spartan and very orange room with a very small bathroom -- shown above in a very fuzzy image. Prices seem to start at €25 per night (the new Berlin hotel had a rockbottom pre-opening booking rate of just €10. But the add-ons can add up: television access €5; a second towel, €1 per guest; WiFi access, €3. Even housekeeping is additional -- except between check-out and the next check-in. I don't know whether even a continental breakfast is included in the room, though at least that (and often much more) is in the vast majority of European accommodations.

Once upon a very long time ago, budget-conscience Yanks traveling to Europe and staying in modest guest houses, hostels or one-star hotels had to bring their own soap and washcloths. Many chose to bring toilet paper, because in those days, European TP either was total absorbent or had the texture of crepe paper. Some even brought their own towels or pillow cases -- just in case. Will the desire to save money bring travelers back to the future? Or will it appeal to thrifty young travelers who have no recollection of the way things were?

Beating the Checked-Bag Blues

Airlines' pay-to-play policies affect ski-vacation travel budgets

It is impossible to travel light on a ski trip. Ski clothing and other winter outdoor clothing and footwear are bulky. Ski and snowboard equipment is both bulky and awkwardly shaped. Since last ski season ended, most airlines have begun charging for checked luggage on domestic flights. Most US carriers began imposing a fee for the second checked piece, which was bad enough for skiers, but they levied fees even for first checked bag, which is bad for all travelers.

Skiwear and other winter clothing mean one checked bag per person. Most experienced skiers take their own boots, even if they rent skis. A pair of boots just about fills a carry-on that will fit into the overhead, especially the teeny space on smaller regional aircraft that often fly into mountain airports. A separate boot bag, even if stuffed to the gills with clothing, counts as a second checked bag.

Take your own skis or snowboard, and that’s checked bag number three. The one bright spot is that one ski or snowboard bag and one boot bag still count as a single piece of luggage, as they did in the days when airlines accepted two pieces of checked luggage without charging. This amounts to bad news for skiers heading for their vacations.

At this writing, most airlines charge $15 for the first and $25, but United gets $50 for the second checked bag. The first bag is free on Delta, and the second costs $25. Don’t plan on taking more than you need. The third and subsequent bags are $80 and up each.

These baggage charges are for the entire trip, not per leg if you are changing planes. Fees for overweight bags have also skyrocketed, so don’t think that buying a team ski bag or hockey gear bag and stuffing everything into it will save money. It won’t.

Premier members of airlines’ frequent-flier programs and those seated in premium cabins in the front of the plane are generally exempt from these surcharges.

Southwest is one major U.S. carrier that so far does not charge for up to two checked bags. The airline also does not charge for curbside baggage check-in, a real boon when a lot of gear is involved. Southwest flies to the ski gateways of Albuquerque, Boise, Denver, Manchester (NH), Salt Lake City and Reno/Tahoe. A change of planes might be necessary, but low fares and absence of surcharges make it worthwhile.

In Colorado, Steamboat and Vail Resorts’ four destinations (Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Vail, plus Heavenly, California) are helping skiers out with a kind of subsidy to take the sting out of the baggage surcharges.

There are still a couple of weeks to tap into Vail Resorts’ Baggage Bailout that gives a $50 credit to guests who book at least a four-day, four-night ski/snowboard vacation by December 1 through Vail Resorts Reservations (866-949-2573). The offer is valid for any qualifying vacation through April 20, the end of the ski season but most be booked by phone.

Steamboat’s Bags Fly Free offer nets a $25 American Express gift card from the resort per booked seat – plus 20 percent off on lift tickets and lodging on early-bird bookings of lift/lodging packages of at least four nights. The vacation had to have been booked though Steamboat Central Reservations (800-922-2722) by November 3, but with this ongoing economic slump, late-booking skiers hold out hope that this or another kind of rebate will be revived. When combined with the resort’s pioneering Kids Ski Free program (children under 12 ski and stay free one-on-one with a paying adult), Bags Fly Free can really pare the cost for a family.

If you will visit any of these resorts (again, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge or Heavenly several times this winter) and don’t like to be bothered with your skis at all, consider a RentSkis.com season pass for unlimited ski/snowboard rental. The cost is $359 per adult ($459 for performance gear) and $199 for kids 13 and under.

Air Canada imposed and then rescinded checked-baggage fees and now allows each passenger to check two bags at no charge. Calgary and Vancouver are the major Canadian gateways to ski country. Others are Montreal, Quebec City, Edmonton, Kelowna and Canadian Rockies Airport (Cranbrook). Transatlantic still have a two-piece free baggage allowance, and international airlines also consider skis/boots as one piece, which can take some of the sting out of a European ski trip.

Some skiers are willing to pay more to avoid hassles, especially when flying to small mountain airports where planes are often weight-restricted. That means you might reach your destination, while some or all of your checked bags follow – often the next day.

Options include shipping bags via FedEx, UPS or a dedicated door-to-door luggage pickup and delivery service. Sports Express, which is headquartered in Durango, Colorado, has a particular affinity for travel to the mountains.

Yet another option is to rent skis. Ski Butlers is a ski/snowboard rental operation with a difference. The service delivers top-quality, well maintained skis and snowboards directly to your accommodation in 25 North American resorts, adjusts your boards to your boots and picks it up at the end of your trip. That saves both the expense of taking your own equipment the hassle of going to a rental shop, filling out forms and standing in line to get your gear -- and then at the end of your vacation, trekking back to the rental shop to return the equipment. Their slogan is "Never Stand in Line Again."

None of this, of course, is carved in granite. Domestic carriers, which don’t need to file their tariffs with regulatory agencies in advance, hit travelers over the head by imposing fees for checked baggage, and they might turn on a dime and change them too. With a soft travel market, the possibility of lower jet-fuel prices and sluggish reservations, they could drop the fees – or other resorts could follow Steamboat and the Vail family and offer a credit to ski vacationers. The only thing certain about the 2008-09 season is uncertainty.

Jessye Norman in "Nabucco" Concert At Masada

American-born diva, Biblical story, Israeli mesatop venue -- coming this June

The first Society of American Travel Writers convention that I attended was in Israel in the fall of 1983. The trip was full of memorable experiences and sights, and when I learned that Jessye Norman (right) will give a concert performance from "Nabucco" at the fortress of Masada this June, two memories came flooding back.

One was from a day trip from Jerusalem that included a visit to a magnificent Roman amphitheater in Caesarea. Our guide, whose name I think was Yossi and who was then old enough to have had personal memories of World War II and Holocaust horrors, told of a Berlin State Opera performance there of "Nabucco." The Giuseppe Verdi opera is set during the Babylonian captivity. Sharing the stage with the Berlin company were legions of locally cast spear-carriers. He said that it "was the first time that the Germans played Jews and Jews played Babylonians." The word "healing" was not yet in vogue, but I couldn't help but think that this performance with all of its symbolic layers must have been a positive event for all involved.

A group of us spent three days hiking and camping in Judean and Negev Deserts. On our last night, our little convoy of Army surplus personnel carriers drove up to the back (west) side of Masada, the fortress overlooking the Dead Sea. We camped at the foot of a 375-foot-high ramp (story below) and hiked up before sunrise and before hordes of tourists disembarked from the aerial tram that comes up from the east. In short, we had mesatop to ourselves. A handsome young Israeli soldier, surely selected for his resemblence to Sal Mineo in the 1960 movie "Exodus," told the Masada story. Totally captivating. We made our way down the ramp and returned to camp before the first tourist-toting tram unloaded.

Masada is as iconic in Israel as a combination of Lexington and Concord, Valley Forge, Fort McHenry and perhaps Gettysburg in the US -- maybe more so. Herod the Great fortified Masada, also in the first century B.C., in case of a Jewish insurrection. In 66 A.D. the Jews in fact did begin revolting. A group called the Sicarii, whom newscasters might today describe as extremists, defeated the Roman garrison at Masada and took over the mesatop from which they then attacked Roman forces. The Romans tried repeatedly to uproot the Jews and finally succeeded after they built the ramp, hauled a battering ram up it and breached the walls. When the Romans entered the fortress, they found that the 900 Jews had burned all of their supplies and committed mass suicide. I can only imagine what today's media would make of such an incident, but Masada remains an Israeli symbol of Jewish survival, and soldiers are sworn in there. What a fitting setting for "Nabucco."

The "Nabucco" Weekend features sunrise performances of Verdi's "Nabucco" directed by Israeli conductor Daniel Oren on an elaborate stage at the foot of Masada, June 3 and 5. The gala concert featuring American soprano Jessye Norman accompanied by the Israeli Opera Orchestra will br on June 4 atop Masada.

Packages revolving around this performance are now available, start at from $668 per person, double occupancy for one night and the performance $1,769 pp/do for a weeklong country tour (May 31 to June 6) with the "Nabucco" weekend at the core. These prices are for foreign visitors only, and it is unclear whether Israeli citizens actually pay less. For package details, click here. When you go to the website and hear the "Nabucco" soundtrack, you'll want to book immediately. I sure did.

Skiing in Colorado This Winter? Buy a Season Pass

Vail Resorts and Intrawest sell such inexpensive season passes that even vacationers benefit

If you are planning to ski Vail and/or Beaver Creek and/or Breckenridge and/or Keystone and/or Arapahoe and/or Heavenly Resort, CA, an EPIC pass is a great value, because it buys a season full of unlimited skiing/riding at all those resorts for $579 per adult and $279 per child. You must buy it before November 15, and the only other hitch is that it is non-transferable and non-refundable. You can even purchase it online. The ""smart pass" comes with an embedded chip for no-hands scanning; keep it in your pocket, and a scanning device at the gate at the bottom of the lift logs you in.

Vacationers do not typically show up at a ski area and purchase a one-day lift ticket, so even if that rarely purchased ticket price were already announced, it wouldn't be relevant. But to underscore the EPIC pass' value, consider that an advance-purchase six-out-of-nine-day lift ticket will be $564 per adult and $522 per child; a seven-out-of-10-day adult ticket will be $658. For overseas visitors who typically take longer ski vacations, the value is even greater.

Intrawest's Colorado resorts (Copper Mountain, Winter Park and Steamboat) offer similarly attractive deals. The Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus is good for unlimited skiing at Winter Park Resort and Copper Mountain, plus six unrestricted days and unlimited free Friday afternoons throughout the season at Steamboat. It is just $439, which is $50 less than last winter's. If you will not get to Steamboat, the Rocky Mountain Super Pass offers unrestricted access to Winter Park and Copper for just $399.

It's worthwhile for you out-of-staters to buy one of these passes even if you're planning just a five- or six-day ski vacation but might be able to sneak off to Colorado for a long weekend sometime during the winter. Since the passes are unrestricted, that includes holidays. AND you get four $50-off coupons to be used for lift tickets for friends and family, plus discounts on rental/retail, food and beverage and Ski & Ride School lessons. These passes are also available online or at Christy Sports Front Range locations

And, if you are lucky enough to live in Colorado and ski, you can't afford not to glom onto an offer like this -- maybe even both if you get to lots of days or partial days.

Autumn in August

A few chilly, rainy days with snow above 10,500 feet provide foretaste of fall and winter

Colorado is a favorite summer escape for Texans and other Sunbelt/Sweatbelt dwellers seeking to escape the heat and humidity. Anyone visiting over the past several days certainly has gotten away from the heat, but steady rain have brought unusual humidity for mid-August. Right now, in Boulder, the temperature is 50 degrees and the humidity 93 percent. Earlier in the week, those numbers were reversed.

Up to six inches of snow have been reported in the high country, according to television traffic reports this morning, and Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park is or was closed. (Channel 9 News photo, right, taken today in Rocky Mountain National Park.)

All this is a reminder that the 2008-09 ski season is scheduled to launch less than three months from now. Keystone plans to open November 6. Arapahoe Basin still has its 2007-08 calendar online, and Loveland's website is currently down, so I don't know when these contenders for early-to-open honors plan to begin operations.

What I do know is that many people are looking to economize this season -- especially since just getting to the slopes will most likely be more expensive than in the past. With that in mind, this is the time for skiers and riders decide where in Colorado they want to slide this winter. Each ski area, large or small, has its own value-laden season pass. Examples of Colorado's big-league passes are Vail Resorts' new $579 EPIC Ski Pass (unlimited, unrestricted, season-long access Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Arapahoe Basin) and the $439 Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus (unlimited access to Winter Park/Mary Jane and Copper, plus six unrestricted days and free skiing every Friday after 12:30 p.m. at Steamboat).

Just to underscore what exceptional values these are, consider that an Aspen Premier Season Pass (Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttemilk, Snowmass) is $1,769 if purchased before September 12, $300 more if purchased later. That does serve to keep the riff-raff away, but then again, the riff-raff probably can't afford the gas to drive to Aspen anyway.

The best deal of all is Colorado Ski Country USA's 2008-09 GEMS card, which at just $10 (ten dollars!) is worth considering even for those purchasing a Rocky Mountain Super Pass, an EPIC Ski Pass and/or a pass to any single ski area. Ten smaller areas belong to the GEMS group: Arapahoe Basin, Echo Mountain, Eldora, Loveland Ski Area, Monarch Mountain, Powderhorn Resort, Ski Cooper, SolVista Basin and Sunlight Mountain Resort. Benefits include free lift tickets to three GEM resorts, two-for-one lift tickets at four others and discounted lift tickets at six resorts.

The rain will stop, some of that high-country snow will melt and temperatures will rise again, but the calendar pages will not stop turning, and ski season is drawing closer by the day.

Ten Top (Mostly) North American Bike Rides Cited

Tour operator selects 10 top bike rides from its tour offerings

The price of gas these days makes not driving all that much more appealing, and two pedals are looking a lot more sensible than the gas pedal. Cycling vacations in New England, in "old England" and in continental Europe have become incessantly popular ways to see the scenery at a relatively leisurely pace, economically and heathily as well. In Europe or the UK, where rain train transportation is wide-ranging for rainy days, times when travelers want to skip from place to place, or when they just need a rest day, it is quite simple to put together an independent itinerary for those with strong legs and lungs to match. In North America and elsewhere in the world, an unsupported bike trip is more of a commitment. In any case, a number of tour operators offer supported cycling trips with a ore-established itinerary, baggage transfers and a sag wagon to pick up tired riders and their bikes.

Whether you go independent or with a tour operator, if a cycling trip appeals to you, take a look at Austin-Lehman Adventures' list of 10 great bike rides linked to various of their itineraries. Austin-Lehman (800-575-1540) specializes in what it calls "adventure luxury" travel. If you're planning a fall trip, the company is offering a $300-off sale. Some of their trips might appeal as they are, and if you prefer to go on your own, the list might give you some ideas.

1. The ride down from Pine Creek into Paradise Valley - Montana Canyons, Calderas, & Cowboys Adventure
2. Bike ride to Gold Rush town of Hope, along Crow Creek - Alaska - Best of the Greatland
3. Riding the Kettle Valley Railroad - Okanagan Valley - Canada's Wine Country
4. Riding through Pemberton Valley - Whistler - British Columbia Wilderness Adventure
5. Mountain Biking from your cabin door at Mountain Home Lodge - Washington - Best of the Northwest Adventure
6. Biking Antelope Flats in the Tetons - Wyoming/Grand Teton – Valley Floors to Jagged Peaks Adventure
7. Biking Snow Canyon at the start of Bryce Zion - Utah - Bryce Zion - Red-Rock Wonders
8. Biking the trail to Maras Inca Salt Mines in Peru - Peru - Land of the Inca
9. Biking Cape Point in South Africa, the southern most point on the continent - South Africa Safari & Multisport Adventure
10. Biking the Icefields Parkway outside of Banff - Canadian Rockies - Rocky Mountain Multisport

Cheap China Tour Package in Winter

Off-season package with air included makes China affordable

The first of my three visits to China was on a tour package for a rockbottom price including air fare from the US, good hotels in Beijing, Xi'an, Giulin and Hong Kong, and an upstream cruise on the Yangtze before the completion of the Three Gorges Dam. There were English-speaking city guides in each city (three of whom took the English name, Richard) and an English-speaking crew on the Yangtze riverboat.

The city guides met us at each airport and escorted us back to the airport again, but there was no full-time tour guide with us from beginning to end. Also not included were dinners (except on the ship), which meant we were free to try out local restaurants or just wander over to the nearest night market and graze the street-food stalls. I've returned to China twice since then, but that first visit in some ways remains the most memorable -- and the fact that we didn't break the bank stays with us as a big bonus.

Now comes word of a really inexpensive package from Friendly Planet Travel, whose Taste of China package has a similar low-frills format and also an astonishingly low price. There is no Yangztze cruise on this package, but the beguiling cities of Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai, which I visited on both of my subsequent trips, are on the itinerary. If booked before September 23, Friendly Planet's package starts at $999 per person, double occupancy, including airfare from Los Angeles, fuel surcharges, hotels, transfers, many meals and most of the tours. Happily for travelers who want the comfort and convenience of a package but don't care to be babysat all the time, it has built-in free time as well.

The lowest prices are for remaining dates in December and January. I've been to China in winter, both to cold gray Beijing and to colder, grayer Harbin, which is so far north that is north of North Korea. No touristic hordes and a more refined sense of being in China and not Chinaland. Of course, you'll need warm clothes (wool, fleece, hat gloves), but you'd need them if you were visiting (or living in) New York, Washington, Boston or Chicago too. Winter days in Shanghai, Guagzhou (formerly Canton, which I have also visited) and Giulin are positively balmy.

I have never dealt with Friendly Planet Travel, but the price is right and the itinerary covers most of the main touristic highlights. 800-555-5765.

Why Can't an Airline Be More Like a Bus Line?

Washington Post compares eight Washington-New York bus lines. Wow!

I was living back East in the last century when Eastern Airlines launched its then-revolutionary Shuttle between New York's LaGuardia and Boston to the northeast and Washington-National to south. Low fares. Hourly flights in both directions. No strings. No TSA screening. Except in the heart of the rush hour, quick cab ride to close-in airports. Business travelers embraced it. And it soared. In those pre-Amtrak days, rail travel on antiquated trains (the New Haven Railroad to Boston, the Pennsylvania Railroad to D.C.) seemed tedious, and buses, for business travelers, seemed déclassé.

Fast forward to this century, and buses seem to be a fantastic way to travel between these two cities. Washington Post reporters rode 10 different buses operated by 10 different bus companies, and all I can say is: with the arguable exception of Southwest, the worst bus line sounds preferable to the best airline these days.

The Post's motorcoach comparison shopping, assembled into a chart called "Rolling With It," reveals low fares (the lowest reported as $1*, the highest one-way fare is $30), convenient center-city stops, online booking with no or modest change fee, walk-up service with no or modest surcharge (but usually cash only) and often amenities that airline passengers can only dream about. Depending on the bus line, these can include free WiFi, electrical outlets, leather seats, free bottled water and free movies that in one case passengers vote on. Most have some kind of frequent-rider deal, with a free trip after as few as four paid trips. Amazing!

*There must be strings to a dollar fare, but I don't know what they are.

The most stinging criticism the Post had was for two lines. MVP was described as, "Our non-MVP bus was pretty dismal. Hindsight lesson: MVP runs its own vehicles Monday-Thursday but uses others on weekends. No WiFi, broken reading lights and the restroom was like an indoor outhouse, unclean and lacking toilet paper and hand sanitizer." Of New Century Travel, the paper commented, "The boarding was unclear — we were instructed to board the Philly-bound bus, but then what? — and the ride was harrowing from start to finish. We want our 20 bucks back!"

I suppose that those Continental Express passengers stranded overnight on the tarmac in Minneapolis last month would have been ecstatic if such had been the worst of their experiences. Click here if you've forgotten that awful true story.

If you are traveling that NYC-WAS route, check the Post's chart with prices, policies, phone numbers, websites and ratings from four buses to a half-bus. If I were still traveling the Northeast corridor, that's what I would do.

"Air Contrarian" Chooses Growth in Difficult Economic Times

While other airlines are cutting back, low-fare AirAsia intends to keep on growing

The travel news is full of service cuts here, airline bankruptcies there, airlines folding completely elsewhere, and surcharges and extra fees all over the map. So it came as a surprise (to me anyway) to read a piece called "Strong Expansion is the Best Way to Cope with High Fuel Prices, AirAsia Exeuctive Says" on a travel trade site called eTurboNews. Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia, described as Asia's largest low-cost airline with a 60-city route network that includes Southeast Asia, China and Australia, spoke to eTurboNews Stephan Hanot:

Q: How fuel is affecting your strategy?
A: Fuel is becoming a massive problem as it went up from US$36 in 2003 to
over US$170 for jet fuel today. And they are only two ways to deal with this
burden to cut costs. The first, chosen by many airlines, is to reduce the
network and adapt capacities. It works but it will also affect considerably
travel patterns and could lead to a cycle of further route network’s adjustment…
The other way is still to grow up. This is the way AirAsia choose. We have to
fill up aircraft as more passengers are the best way to compensate for the
burden of high fuel prices. We will also continue to look at ways to reduce our
costs.

Q.This means: no cut in your network, including domestic routes?
A. That is correct. More revenues can make up for the deficit we could
record because of the fuel crisis. In fact, I speed up the opening of new
routes. We will out of Malaysia open between June and July up to four new lines
[routes]...

Q. Does it then mean that AirAsia low cost model turn its back from
traditional point-to-point markets?
A. We have seen indeed an increasing number of passengers in transit at our
main bases...I anticipate a further development of our transfer activity in the
future.

Q. Will you increase fuel surcharges?
A. We try not to pass the burden to consumers with additional fuel
surcharges. We rather look at other ways such as paying a minimal fee to use our
various services. We recently introduced fees for check-in luggage for
example...

Q. How about your environmental credential? AirAsia seems to be far behind other airlines in terms of initiatives such as carbon footprint compensation.
A. Asia is generally behind developed nations in Europe, America or
the Pacific...Our fleet is one of the youngest in the world and is extremely fuel-efficient as we put more seat per aircraft than most or our competitors. We also try to accelerate the replacement of our ageing Boeing 737-300 by more fuel-efficient Airbus A320. However, we are looking now to introduce a scheme for carbon dioxide (CO²) footprint compensation. We look at ways to see how this CO² credit would be at best used. I expect that we could come up with some program by early
2009....

Can AirAsia keep it up? I don't know, but it operates on an aggressive model. Founded only in 2001 as a no-frills, low-fare, fequent-flight carrier that currently flies to 60 destinations, it was named named 2007 CAPA Airline of the Year. AirAsia managed an on-time record of 89 percent in May, and even in challenging times, seems to be continuing various promotions and fare sales to fill seats.

Contrast this to a front page story in today's Denver Post called "Fares Adding Fuel to the Flier," which reported that base fares for domestic flights from Denver are up 7.5 percent since June 2007 -- plus the add-on fees that did not exist a year ago. Competition does put the reins on increases a bit, with the greatest fare increases on routes with the least service. The phrase," The airlines have those passengers over a barrel" comes to mine -- a barrel of oil, perhaps.

AirAsia's slogan: "Now everyone can fly." What a contrast to many US carriers -- Southwest seemingly being an exception -- that seem to being instituting the slogan, "Now no one can fly anymore."

Snow Mountain Ranch's Yurt Village is New Lodging Category

Four yurts now with more to come provide affordable comfort

Snow Mountain Ranch/YMCA of the Rockies between Winter Park and Granby provides some of the best lodging and recreation values around. With accommodations ins large lodges, cabins and campgrounds. it has long provided affordable options in various types of lodging. Another was added this year: four yurts, one handicap-accessible and all available year-round. The yurts have few windows, so you have to go outside and around the back for the fabulous view.

Each sleeps up to six people (one big bed, two pairs of bunkbeds), plus a tent platform. Each has a microwave for minimal cooking indoors, picnic table and outdoor grill. A bathhouse with private bathrooms (indoor plumbing and no communal showers), laundry facilities and outdoor dish-washing sinks are steps away. The best part for economy-minded visitors is that they rent for just $89 per night  up to maximum occupancy, plus a crib on request. Th Y has abundant recreational opportunities as well, many of them included in the modest rate. Here's what the "yurt village" looks like:

Make reservations online or by calling 800-777-9622 (central reservations) or 970-887-2152 (direct).